Stop light for automobiles



Dec, c. J. MONTENOTTE fi fi STOP LIGHT FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed March 5, 1947 INVENTOR. Charles J. Monfenofle ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 7, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT; OFFICE stop L Girr Fort AUrro OmLEsf Charles Joseph Montenott'e, Detroit, Mich. Application arch 5, 1947, Serial No. 732,395

My improvement falls into the class of signal lights for automotive vehicles, its specific purpose being to serve as a stop lightlto indicate that the driver of the vehicle equipped with said light is to be brought to a stop... l i

While a number of stop lights are already in use, the signal light of my invention includes certain features which make it more useful, said features being calculated to attract immediate attention of the driver or drivers within the range of vision of my stoplight. This is due to a plurality, of colored lights included in said si nal and to the fact that thesecolored lights, are flashed one by one, inrotation, so that a factor of rjnovement is included in my stop 1ig 1it. As is well known, movement always makes anobl'ect more conspicuous and arresting.

In providing the stop light my object was also to develop a device of simple structure, compact in size and fully effective.

I wish now to describe my stop light with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my stop light;

Figure 2 is a longtiudinal sectional view of said light;

Figure 3 is a sectional view on line 3--3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a sectional view on line 4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a sectional View on line 5-5 of Figure 2;

Figure 6 is a sectional view on line 6-6 of Figure 3;

Similar numerals refer throughout the several views.

The stop light includes a casing It substantially of a tear drop or barrel shaped design, and is aflixed to the body of the automobile by suitable means including such means as, brackets which are not shown. In the form disclosed in the drawings, one end of the casing is of a larger diameter than the opposite one, and it is at this end of the larger diameter, that it is fitted with a flat cover I I. The cover is provided with a circular aperture occupied by a diffusing lens 12, preferably made of transparent red glass or other suitable material. Disposed around said lens in a circular arrangement, is a number of apertures, each serving as a frame for a colored lens or a colored pane l3. Mounted within the casing, at the narrowed end thereof, and axially disposed therein, is a small electric motor it supported in its place by means of brackets [5. The motor is of a low voltage variety, designed to operate on the current supplied by a standard automobile to similar parts 2 Claims. (01. 177-329) battery of six volts. The shaft I6 of the motor fits axially into a cylindrical coupling 11 made of a suitable dielectricmaterial such as Bakelite, fiber, hard rubber, etc. coupling and axially alined therewith, rotates Y with said coupling and carries two electric light bulbs.

located radially along the rim of the disk so that the bulb itself, held therein, is located centrally with respect to said disk, and directly back of the diffusion lens i2. The other bulb 22, i is held within a socket 23, turned outwardly of the disk so that said bulb projects beyondthe rim of the disk, andwith the rotation thereof will be carried along a circularpath back of the colored panes l3. 3

Electric current necessary to operate the stop light is supplied by an ordinary storage battery of the type commonly used in automobiles. It is this low voltage current which will operate said motor l4. A cable leading from the battery to the motor is shown by numeral 24. The current to the bulbs is supplied by a separate cable 25 including two wires, one 26 carrying the current from the battery to the bulbs, the other 21, being the lead line from the bulbs to the battery. Separated, the wires are connected to resilient contact points or fingers 28 and 29, respectively. The fingers are mounted on a small plate 30 which is kept in place by a metal bracket 3| secured by a screw 32 to the casing of motor I4, and bear against annular conductors 33 and 34 respectively. The conductors are made of metal and are seated axially on a coupling which is made of a dielectric material. is soldered directly to the disk I8. Electric current passing through wire 36 and through the contact finger 28, is gathered by said annular conductor 34. As said conductor 34 and the disk are soldered together and as said conductor is made of metal and sockets 20 and 23 are mounted thereon, electric current will be thus carried to said sockets. A spring clip 35 mounted on disk It, insulated therefrom by a plate 39, reaches into the bottom of the socket 20, but without touching it, and a similar spring clip 36, similarly mounted on the disk and insulated by a plate 40, reaches into the bulb of socket 23 as best shown in Figures 2 and 4. The spring clips are in contact with the respective, centrally located terminals, in the bases of bulbs I9 and 2|]. A wire 4| connects the two clips and joins wire 31, which leads into the body of the coupling H. The respective length 38 of the wire within said A disk l8 carried by the One of them [9, is held within a socket 2D. Thesocket provided with a bayonette slot is One of said conductors the design of the stop light itself, these details pertaining to the switch and to the foot brake are omitted. The matter of such a witnesses-wears be obvious to any one familiar with the construc tion of an automobile. k M Having described the above""'s'top-light, what I wish to claim is as follows:

1. A stop light of the kind described co; prisinga barrel like casing provided with a flat end cover having a central opening framing a f'd lens and a plui'ality erate'n ng's an-at in a circle around said its lens, each of aid openings framing a trans serpent of'differritcolor, "a moQor at h g a U I v having shaft aig ally disposed ing; a dielectric co ilg cylinder'fmoiinted on said shaft and carrying a' 'disk spaced from the lens carrying end a bulb located centrally on the disk and another ught tmb on the iterginal portionthereofat a radial distance from the centereqnaltto thatof tine respective lenses from t;hecentra1 ,one, the b bs bet'fg' located on the side of the dislc' facingtthe' vegan) metal ringsaxially mounted on theco from each other, wire conductors'l'ading from oneringto the bulbs and from the bulbsto the ing and spaced 4 other ring, resilient metal fingers in contact with said rings and current conducting means to the motor and to said fingers.

2. A stop light of the kind described comprising a substantially cylindrical casing having at one end a cover provided with a central opening, framing a red lens and with a plurality of openings framing lenses of different colors and arrangedin' a circular arrangement around said central red-lens, an axially disposed shaft within the casing, a cylindrical coupling of dielectric material axially connected with the shaft and carrying a disk disposed back of the cover and "sfiacd'ther efrom, a centrally located light bulb on the-disk on the side of the cover and a marginally disposed light bulb for display behind the leases-er 1 the "circular arrangement, two metal rings onthe coupling, current conducting means from one ring to the bulbs and current conducting means from the bulbs to the other ring, resmart r'ri't'alf 'fing ers' in contact "with the rings, nib 61 means to rotat'fsuch shaft-and 'wiremeafis to suppiy current io 'tne operation of the meter- Number, Name Date 133 152 Doian ;Au v, 917 -instant sji n'or ar. 11 3, 1,930 1,350,990 flolni'dahl Mar. 22, 1932 13331459 Anchors Jan; 8, 1935 

